Baseball Pitching Tips - Controlling Emotions With Umpires!

By Larry Cicchiello

First and foremost, don't ever put an umpire on display by letting everybody in attendance at the ball park know that you think he may have missed a strike call. Don't glare at them for several seconds or stomp around the mound between pitches. Umpires are regular people like we are and none of us like to be shown up. You will not get any close calls during the rest of the game if you show them up and put them on display. Even worse yet, you may not get the calls that you should be getting!

As a pitcher, showing up an umpire is not in your best interest.There are going to be several pitches that can be called "either way" and you increase your chances of getting these close calls if you don't get the umpire annoyed at you.

If you truly feel you are being "squeezed" by an umpire on several pitches, a quick glance that lasts only about a half second may be in order and then quickly look the other way. And by a half second, I mean exactly a half second and not one second, one and a half seconds or two seconds. By glancing for a half second, you have politely made your point to the umpire that you think he may have "missed one" and you're getting that message across to him. You are letting him know and not letting everyone in attendance know that you think he missed the call.

Another way to let the umpire know that you think he missed the strike call is to politely ask him, "where did you have that one blue?" You have to walk a very fine line here and your tone of voice is critical. If you ask him where the pitch missed in a nasty tone of voice, you have blown it and made a huge mistake. When he lets you know where the pitch missed, give him what at least appears to be a sincere thank you.

Remember, baseball umpires have a very tough job to do and every close call they make is going to make one team happy and the other team upset.

Don't ever hesitate to compliment an umpire about his knowledge on a certain baseball ruling or for his hustle on a certain play.

It is clearly in your best interest to stay on their "good side" at all times!

Larry Cicchiello is the author of "Excellent Baseball Coaching: 30 Seconds Away." His site offers many FREE baseball tips on hitting, baseball pitching tips, baseball coaching drills, baseball fielding tips, etc. You will be FULLY EQUIPPED! You can visit his website at http://www.larrybaseball.com/

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